Who Won the Transfer Window? Ranking Top 20 Clubs After Premier League Deadline

Who Won the Transfer Window? Ranking Top 20 Clubs After Premier League Deadline

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Craziest. Transfer. Window. Ever.

Billions of pounds and euros exchanged this summer as the world's football clubs wheeled and dealed, with the new Premier League broadcasting deal fuelling an eye-poppingly expensive summer.

England's top clubs splashed the cash and in doing so armed Europe's other top teams with enough money to overhaul their squads too. You know it's been a weird window when the only major power who didn't spend that much was Real Madrid.

Here, we provide the final instalment of our transfer rankings for the summer. We've been updating them for months, but with the proceedings drawing to a close, this is our last edition. It gauges transfer activity (both in and out) for every club in Europe's top five leagues and forms a top 20, honouring the finest.

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20. Barcelona

In: Gerard Deulofeu, Nelson Semedo, Paulinho, Ousmane Dembele.

Out: Cristian Tello, Jeremy Mathieu, Neymar.

Propping up the rankings in 20th place are Barcelona. They've had a very disappointing summer, no doubt, but if you clear away the failed attempts to lure in certain players, and it's not a complete failure.

Dembele could well become one of the best players in the world, while Semedo is an excellent right-back who solves a problem position at the club. Losing Neymar, the third-best player in the world, puts a glass ceiling on how good your window can possibly be, though.

The late signing of Patrik Schick saves this window for Roma. For months it looked as though they'd fail to adequately replace those sold—particularly Salah, given their pursuit of Riyad Mahrez fell flat—but Monchi pulled it out of the bag.

That said, it's difficult to view the Giallorossi as title contenders this season; they've lost ground on Juventus and their Serie A rivals.

Swansea might well have won transfer deadline day; what they pulled off was impressive. Sanches on loan is brilliant, even if he's only there for one season, and swapping wantaway Llorente (32) for former hero Bony (28) for about the same price is great.

Everton have steadily dropped in our transfer rankings throughout the summer. They've signed a lot of players, and it's easy to be duped by aggressive, early business, but the pertinent question is: Are they any better for all their spending?

The answer might be no. It's tough to believe they're moving up from their seventh-placed league finish last season with this squad.

Krychowiak is a serious coup, while Burke is a big, physical winger that suits the playing style very well. Barry can replace the veteran influence lost by Fletcher, and Gibbs can get his career back on track and play some football.

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With the focus on Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco, Marseille's strong window has flown under the radar a little.

They've brought back Mandanda, and the Germain and Gustavo deals look great. Amavi and Abdennour are slight risks but could pay off big time. Mitroglou scored a bucket-load in Portugal and should provide a satisfying end to their season-long chase for a striker.

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Had RB Leipzig not lost Keita, even in advance of next summer, this might well have been a perfect window for them.

Their first XI is already brilliant, so they just needed a few pieces for depth. The deadline-day capture of Kampl is smart, as he's reunited with the Red Bull organisation he originally caught the eye in and can flit between three or four roles.

Liverpool failed to secure one of their primary targets in Virgil van Dijk, but they at least landed Salah and Keita—even if the latter isn't arriving until next summer. It's a bit odd that the Reds sold Sakho given he'd upgrade their starting XI, but if he's never going to play for the club again, they might as well cash in and make a profit.

Oxlade-Chamberlain's an exciting player who needs moulding and coaching. He's chosen the right place for it.

10. Tottenham Hotspur

At no point throughout the summer did Tottenham Hotspur feature in our transfer rankings. They refused to make a signing for about seven weeks and lost star right-back Kyle Walker to Manchester City, then dallied over a number of deals and threatened to do nothing.

But right at the last, they've pulled through with a series of impressive moves. Aurier's chequered past throws his £24 million move into question, but if he stays out of trouble, he's a near like-for-like replacement for Walker for half the price.

Sanchez is a fantastic centre-back who has Mauricio Pochettino traits, and the same can be said for Foyth—though the latter needs far more work in the gym and on the training ground with better players before he can impact.

Lastly, they secured a genuine, trustworthy back-up to Harry Kane in Fernando Llorente. They've been after that for two years!

At no stage was Juventus' window dull. Week by week something happened, be it incoming or outgoing, and in the final stages, they pounced for Schalke's Howedes.

A FIFA World Cup winner, he arrives with obvious pedigree and the versatility to play at full-back if required. It's still a downgrade on what they had before—the majestic Leonardo Bonucci—but they needed to do something there, as Benatia struggles with injury, Andrea Barzagli is 36 and Daniele Rugani is still a little inexperienced.

The most intriguing part of Juve's business was the securing of Bernardeschi and Costa. It commits them to proper wing play and the 4-2-3-1 formation by sheer weight of numbers.

New manager Luciano Spalletti did some serious remoulding of the squad this summer. Plenty of ins and even more outs suggests he wanted a complete shake-up. He got one.

Valero, Vecino, Skriniar, Dalbert and Cancelo are all eventual starters, meaning the Nerazzurri secured five new first-team players in one window. Given they've started with two wins from two and six goals scored, it doesn't appear to have disrupted them short term, which is great.

They've let some big talents go, but said talents (like Jovetic and Kondogbia) were never going to flourish at the San Siro, so it's the right call. How Gabriel Barbosa gets on at Benfica will be interesting.

Borussia Dortmund endured a crazy end to this summer's transfer window, with two in and two out in the final week alone.

While BVB are weaker for losing Dembele to Barcelona, they extracted one hell of a price for him (€105 million plus bonuses) and quickly signed Yarmolenko for a quarter of that initial fee. They've also got Pulisic developing fast who can step into the void.

They nabbed English youngster Sancho—a player who lit up the UEFA EuropeanUnder-17 Championship this summer and who has remarkable potential. He takes up Mor's bit-part role in the squad; the German was sold to Celta Vigo for a 10-figure fee.

Signing Toljan from Hoffenheim only to send Passlack on loan there (they both play full-back) is slightly odd, but the former only had one year left on his deal and the latter needs games, so it makes sense on some levels.

6. Manchester United

Man Utd manager Jose Mourinho wanted four positions addressed this summer: striker, holding midfield, centre-back and left-back. He addressed three of those, with only left-back untouched.

The bonus signing of Ibrahimovic brings a feel-good factor to an already successful haul, which included Premier League demon Lukaku, Mourinho soldier Matic and long-term target Lindelof. Zlatan won't be ready for a while, but he'll help behind the scenes and prove a welcome addition come the second half of the season.

This was an excellent window from Manchester United, as their blistering start to the season suggests.

5. Real Madrid

The phrase "less is more" springs to mind when assessing Real Madrid's business. They didn't recruit a glut of world-class stars or splash the cash around in silly fashion; they kept it simple, acquiring two top young Spaniards and sold off back-ups for big sums.

Given they've won consecutive Champions Leagues and have a squad packed with world-class talent, this was all they needed to do. Don't upset the balance with a Galactico signing, just pad things out a little and secure the next crop of stunning homegrown players.

Manchester City failed to land a player on transfer deadline day, though that was not through a lack of effort: They reportedly agreed a fee in principle to sign Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal, but it was dependent on the Gunners signing Thomas Lemar. Arsenal didn't sign the Frenchman, so it all fell through, per Spanish football expert Guillem Balague (h/t B/R Football).

So Pep Guardiola is left with just the sum total of Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero as his striking options—boohoo!It felt like Alexis would have been overkill given the stacked nature of their squad, so while it's a blow not to land a brilliant player, it won't change their seasonal fortunes too much.

It felt like Alexis would have been overkill given the stacked nature of their squad, so while it's a blow not to land a brilliant player, it won't change their seasonal fortunes too much.

The Etihad's exit door ended up being busier by far on Thursday. Denayer and Roberts left on loan, as there's no room for them, Sancho opted to move to Borussia Dortmund, and Wilfried Bony brought in around £12 million by returning to Swansea City.

Bayern Munich have been sat in the corner with a full stack of chips for some time. They got six players through the door early, including the blockbuster loan of James Rodriguez, and they have allowed manager Carlo Ancelotti maximal time to sort through what he's got.

In particular, the Niklas Sule signing looks impactful. He scored in the Bundesliga opener against Bayer Leverkusen, so that helps his early stock, but the availability of a quality, healthy centre-back to back up the oft-injured trio of Mats Hummels, Jerome Boateng and Javi Martinez is big.

They loaned Renato Sanches to Swansea City on deadline day, and this feels like they've played a blinder, too. He can receive stellar coaching from manager Paul Clement and assistant manager Claude Makelele, a confidence boost from playing regularly, and if he nails it, Bayern will be choosing between sky-high bids for his services next summer.

We've been running these transfer rankings every week throughout the summer, and Milan were sat atop most editions. They've been pipped at the very, very end.

Still, let's look back on an incredible summer for the Rossoneri. It started with Silva joining from FC Porto; he was followed quickly by Kessie, Rodriguez and Musacchio; then Conti and Calhanoglu came next.

Then things got rather ridiculous: Biglia and Bonuccisigned, two players who arguably make Milan title contenders, and Nikola Kalinic was loaned in late to cover the striker's spot. Somewhere in among all of that, Fabio Borini arrived as a bit-part-role player and Gianluigi Donnarumma's brother Antonio was acquired to keep him happy.

Remarkable.

1. Paris Saint-Germain

So they didn't manage to pry Fabinho from Monaco, but chances are PSG owner Nasser Al-Khelaifi won't be worrying about that. He'll be keeping himself warm with the knowledge he secured Mbappe on deadline day and procured Neymar several weeks earlier.

Mbappe's move is a loan with what is being described as an option to buy, but in reality, it's an obligation (except those aren't really allowed in France, just like release clauses). It backdates the payment of £166 million that will take the teenager to the capital permanently and shrugs off financial fair play pressure.

Adding Mbappe, a special talent, to the haul of Neymar (probably the third-best player in the world) and Alves (the second-best right-back in the world?) is the way to take you to the top of the transfer rankings.